2024 World Snooker Championship

[The Hallucinating Goose]

It's that time of the year again so I thought we'd have a thread to discuss the World Championship. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

So the big news from the final day of qualifying today is that Jamie Jones has beaten Neil Robertson, meaning for the first time since 2004, Neil will not be appearing at the Crucible!

It was a very successful qualifying for Welsh players as well with 5 coming through qualifying, making it 6 Welshmen in the main draw tomorrow. 

The main tournament draw will be live on Radio 5live at 8.45am tomorrow. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Seems like they’re definitely moving the tournament to Saudi Arabia next.

The Sheffield Crucible has three years left on it’s contract.

We should enjoy it while it’s still in the U.K.

[17 stone giant]

18 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Seems like they’re definitely moving the tournament to Saudi Arabia next.

The Sheffield Crucible has three years left on it’s contract.

We should enjoy it while it’s still in the U.K.

I've never been to the Crucible, so I'll have to try and do that in the next few years then.

Whilst it's a shame for nostalgic reasons to see it move elsewhere (I've been following snooker since 1989), I suppose money talks. And maybe the World Championships does need a bigger, more spectacular venue(s).

[The Hallucinating Goose]

The players certainly wouldn't be happy if it was moved from the Crucible and I could almost see a few boycotting it if it was in Saudi. 

The players say about how it is their dream to play at the Crucible because the atmosphere and prestige of the venue far outweighs any other. They say about how, because the arena is so small and intimate, how close the fans are to the action, that the atmosphere is just so intimidating and tense and it can really affect a players game if they aren't used to it. The atmosphere can be cut with a knife because of how it weighs down on the players, even the most experienced players can get too absorbed in it. 

The atmosphere is essentially why the Crucible Curse exists, because of the expectation and anticipation that radiates off the fans, the players just can't handle that feeling. You'd never be able to creating that intimidating atmosphere at the massive, modern, soulless arena. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

So, with the main draw less than two hours away, what are my pre-tournament predictions? 

Mark Allen v Judd Trump in the final, Judd to get his 2nd title. 

Who do I want to win the title? I'd love to see Luca defend his title but that just isn't going to happen. He's not had the best season to follow up his win last year and then there's the Crucible Curse as well. I'd also love to see Hossein Vafaei have a really solid run to gain some decent ranking points and maintain his position high up in the rankings cos he's gonna lose the points from his Shoot Out win next season so will be dropping down the rankings unfortunately. 

If someone was to come through from the qualifiers to win? Jack Lisowski can put in some brilliant performances and has been in 6 finals down the years, alas yet to win one. I'm really looking forward to seeing if Jackson Page can at least get through the first round; the up and coming Welsh player in my opinion with some real potential to go far in the game. It looked for so long like Michael White was gonna be the next great Welshman but he's really fallen away now so let's see if Jackson can step up! 

Obviously never write off Ronnie, though in the last couple of seasons mistakes have been creeping into his game much more and he does seem to be faltering a bit against the top players, granted he can always perform at the Crucible.

Talking about faltering against top players, the performance Mark Williams put in to beat him in the British Open final will go down in the sports history as one of the greatest performances, 3-5 down at the break, comes back in the evening and wins 7 frames without reply. Unbelievable performance and Mark does have a history of coming from nowhere to win this title in the past so you never know! 

I haven't even mentioned Mark Selby. An unspectacular, and sometimes quite forgettable player in terms of style of play but always solid and efficient and with 4 titles already under his belt you can also never write Selby off. 

Like I say though, I'm going Judd for the title. 

Edited April 18 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

 

 

Edited April 18 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Hossein gets Judd...

Jackson gets Ronnie... 

The curse of the Goose on the draw it seems...

[graveyard johnny]

modern day snooker players are so characterless and bland I wouldnt know a single one of them if they were playing pool in my local apart from o sullivan 

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, graveyard johnny said:

modern day snooker players are so characterless and bland I wouldnt know a single one of them if they were playing pool in my local apart from o sullivan 

I saw yours was the last post on this thread and I guessed entirely what you'd be saying. You need a better act.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

4 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

modern day snooker players are so characterless and bland I wouldnt know a single one of them if they were playing pool in my local apart from o sullivan 

If you think there aren't characters in snooker then it's obvious you don't watch much of it. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just to get back to it I am looking forward to it.

I find snooker like golf can draw me in if there’s an interesting storyline and I like its calming rhythm.

The green baize too is probably good for you.

I think Mark Allen has a good chance of winning it.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Just to get back to it I am looking forward to it.

I find snooker like golf can draw me in if there’s an interesting storyline and I like its calming rhythm.

The green baize too is probably good for you.

I think Mark Allen has a good chance of winning it.

Looking at the draw, I'd say Mark is almost certain to get through his side, like I said, I'm going Mark v Judd in the final. I'd prefer Mark to win, one of my favourite players in recent seasons but I just think Judd will have a little too much for Mark over 4 sessions. It would be very close though, only a couple of frames in it. 

[17 stone giant]

14 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

If you think there aren't characters in snooker then it's obvious you don't watch much of it. 

Not just that but with all the different events and coverage nowadays (BBC, ITV, Quest, etc.), you get to see the personalities of various ex-players (and indeed current players like Lisowski), and they're almost always great. Due to the nature of the game, there's not much chance to show a personality at the table, and players that I might have thought were a bit dour during their playing career (like Hendry and Docherty), are actually great fun and very likeable off the table.

 

Edited April 19 by 17 stone giant
Hendry not Henry

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

Not just that but with all the different events and coverage nowadays (BBC, ITV, Quest, etc.), you get to see the personalities of various ex-players (and indeed current players like Lisowski), and they're almost always great. Due to the nature of the game, there's not much chance to show a personality at the table, and players that I might have thought were a bit dour during their playing career (like Hendry and Docherty), are actually great fun and very likeable off the table.

 

Great Post! I hated Hendry when he was playing but away from the table he seems a right laugh. He does a YouTube channel called Cue Tips which he's fantastic on and he's one of my favourite people in the game now! 

Edited April 19 by The Hallucinating Goose

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Less than 4 hours until we get going! So excited!

Luca Brecel v Dave Gilbert to start us off; that's gonna be a very competitive game and a tough one to call. Then Judd v Hossein this afternoon, really looking forward to that one; a bit easier to call I think but should still be a very entertaining encounter. And then Luca and Dave concluding this evening. What a day of snooker we have ahead of us! 

For a bit of fun, here are my predictions for the entire tournament!

First Round

Luca Brecel v Dave Gilbert

Robert Milkins v Pang Junxu

Ali Carter v Stephen Maguire

Shaun Murphy v Lyu Haotian

Mark Selby v Joe O'Connor

Kyren Wilson v Dominic Dale

John Higgins v Jamie Jones

Mark Allen v Robbie Williams

Judd Trump v Hossein Vafaei 

Tom Ford v Ricky Walden

Zhang Anda v Jak Jones

Mark Williams v Si Jiahui

Ding Junhui v Jack Lisowski

Gary Wilson v Stuart Bingham

Barry Hawkins v Ryan Day

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jackson Page

 

Second Round

Luca Brecel v Pang Junxu

Ali Carter v Shaun Murphy

Mark Selby v Kyren Wilson

Jamie Jones v Mark Allen

Judd Trump v Ricky Walden

Zhang Anda v Mark Williams

Jack Lisowski v Gary Wilson

Barry Hawkins v Ronnie O'Sullivan

 

Quarter-Finals

Luca Brecel v Ali Carter

Mark Selby v Mark Allen

Judd Trump v Mark Williams

Gary Wilson v Ronnie O'Sullivan

 

Semi-Finals

Luca Brecel v Mark Allen

Judd Trump v Ronnie O'Sullivan

 

The Final

Mark Allen v Judd Trump

 

This is a very hard tournament to predict though, so many of these games could go either way and that list of games could look very different even just after the first round. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

A great first session from Luca and Dave, snooker of the finest quality, we're off to a fantastic start! 

[DavidM]

Kirk Stevens 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Kirk Stevens 

What about him? 

[DavidM]

5 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

What about him? 

Him in a white suit just came into my mind when i think of snooker . It was huge in the 80s but although i love the  darts i left snooker behind after them days . I take it hes not still playing

Edited April 20 by DavidM

[17 stone giant]

11 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Him in a white suit just came into my mind when i think of snooker . It was huge in the 80s but although i love the  darts i left snooker behind after them days . I take it hes not still playing

Wikipedia says his last Crucible appearance was 1988, but he didn't retire until 1993.

Why did you stop watching the snooker? Did you ever watch Big Break with Jim Davidson?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Wow! Wow! What a thriller we have been treated to to start the tournament off!

Dave Gilbert has beaten Luca Brecel 10-9 after needing to win the last 4 frames in a row and doing so. Luca only has himself to blame for the loss, a couple of frames having been only a pot or two from winning the match and missing some easy balls. Dave didn't lead once during the entire match but seized on Luca's self inflicted mistakes perfectly. What a performance from Dave Gilbert, I knew this one was gonna be an exciting match but that has exceeded all my expectations and really set us up for a truly wonderful rest of tournament! 

The Crucible Curse lives on!

Edited April 20 by The Hallucinating Goose

[17 stone giant]

Just now, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Wow! Wow! What a thriller we have been treated to to start the tournament off!

Dave Gilbert has beaten Luca Brecel 10-9 after needing to win the last 4 frames in a row and doing so. Luca only has himself to blame for the loss, a couple of frames having been only a pot or two from winning the match and missing some easy balls. Dave didn't lead once during the entire match but seized on Luca's self inflicted mistakes perfectly. What a performance from Dave Gilbert, I knew this one was gonna be a exciting match but that has exceeded all my expectations and really set us up for a truly wonderful rest of tournament! 

The Crucible Curse lives on!

That's incredible. I can't believe that. I was watching it earlier before the interval and I thought Brecel would see it out. Even more so when I checked in later and the score was 9-6 to Brecel. The Crucible Curse is one of the most amazing things in sport. How on earth so many amazing players - many of whom went on to win the title again several times - have been unable to retain it at the first attempt, is just bizarre. Congrats to Dave Gilbert.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

This is turning into a very unpredictable championship. 

The relatively unknown, Jak Jones has beaten one of the seasons most successful players, Zhang Anda and after the first session of their game, debutant Joe O'Connor is absolutely battering one of the all-time greats, and his mentor, Mark Selby, 7-2.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Well done to Tom Ford for a convincing win over Ricky Walden, 10-6. After over 20 years of being a journeyman pro, Tom Ford has finally won his first game at the Crucible! Fantastic performance Tom!